harrypotterheadsfandomcom-20200214-history
Cornelius Fudge
Minister Cornelius Oswald8' Fudge', O.M. (First Class), was a British wizard who was the Minister for Magic from 1990-1996. He thus had complete control of the Ministry of Magic, the main governing body of the British wizarding world. Fudge began his career in the Ministry as Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. He then succeeded Millicent Bagnold as Minister for Magic, and thus had the responsibility of meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister when necessary. Physical appearance Fudge was described as a "portly little man", with rumpled grey hair. He was recognizable by his lime green bowler hat, which he usually wore or held and often wore a pinstriped cloak, but not exclusively. When Harry Potter first saw him, Fudge was wearing a pinstriped suit, scarlet tie, long black traveling cloak, pointed purple boots, and lime green bowler hat. On another occasion he wore a bottle-green suit. For the execution of Buckbeak he had a gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat. Magical abilities and skills * Transfiguration: During his first visit to the British Prime Minister, Fudge used a number of Transfiguration spells, which included turning a teacup into a gerbil, and making whisky appear out of thin air. His spells were also non-verbal which shows further skill. Transfiguration is, by common consent, a particularly difficult branch of magic. Fudge was also known to be the Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes, which given its haphazard and on the spot nature for responses, likely required Fudge to use a number of Transfiguration-based magic in order to rectify them. * Duelling: Fudge challenged Albus Dumbledore to a duel but this was only because he was being backed up by Dolores Umbridge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and John Dawlish. Dumbledore effortlessly defeated Fudge, Umbridge and Dawlish and put a hex on Kingsley to make it convincing since Kingsley was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. The fact that he was willing to challenge Dumbledore, even with backup, suggests that he had some skill in duelling and in martial magic. * Charms: It can be assumed that Fudge was highly accomplished in charms, as he was able to produce a non-corporeal Patronus Charm,67 which is a mark of superior magical ability given the difficulty of this spell. His ability to cast this charm would have been especially useful when he handled and controlled Dementors as the Minister for Magic. * Nonverbal magic: Fudge was able to cast non-verbal transfiguration spells. Given the difficulty and the accuracy required to perform transfiguration correctly, and even the ability to perform said spells non-verbally, is proof Cornelius was a highly competent wizard. Relationships Albus dumbledore In Fudge's early days as Minister for Magic, he was forever bombarding Albus Dumbledore for help and advice. In return he expressed confidence in Dumbledore. When Lucius Malfoy had an Order of Suspension for Dumbledore due to his failure to prevent petrification-attacks on students, Fudge was against the suspension, saying it was the "last thing we want just now," and "if Dumbledore can't stop them... who can?" Harry potter Initially, Fudge treated Harry Potter like a favorite nephew, and gave him lenience when the underage wizard accidentally inflated his aunt Marge from his anger, rather than expel him, despite a previous offense (which was actually Dobby's doing). This was partly due to the Azkaban escapee Sirius Black, who Fudge believed to be seeking to return to Voldemort; however, in a misguided attempt to protect Harry, Fudge was too reluctant to tell the boy about Black's supposed goals, as well as Harry's importance as Black's godson. In addition, Fudge refused to listen to Harry and Hermione's attempts to explain Sirius' innocence, instead going with Severus Snape's suggestion that they might have been confounded. Harry initially thought fairly well of Fudge, regarding him as a somewhat blustering and pompous, but essentially good-natured person. Dolores umbridge Dolores Umbridge was Fudge's right-hand woman, being his Senior-Undersecretary, and he trusted her greatly to place her into Hogwarts to control it. He granted her many powers through Educational Decrees, and full-heartedly agreed with all of her comments and mockeries against Dumbledore and Harry. Fudge seemed to be unaware of Umbridge's sadistic and dark nature. In return, Umbridge was loyal to Fudge only because of the power he was offering her, and felt no true attachments to the misguided man. She was also willing to break the law behind the Minister's back to achieve results, such as summoning Dementorsin an attempt to expel Harry, as well as using the illegal Cruciatus Curse for interrogation, all the while stating that "what Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him". In short, Umbridge used Fudge to further her lust for power. When Fudge was dismissed, Umbridge stood beside the new Ministers instead. Lucius malfoy Fudge had a close professional association with Lucius Malfoy who was a wealthy and respectable pure-blood. (Lucius was cleared in 1981 of serving Lord Voldemort, claiming to have been under the Imperius Curse, which Fudge believed absolutely.) This association may have encouraged Fudge's own belief in the superiority of pure-bloods over those with mixed parentage, as well as "half-breeds" and creatures with "near-human intelligence" which his senior assistant, Umbridge, expressed. Fudge admired Lucius for giving donations of gold to the right causes. In return, Fudge granted him many privileges, such as personal access to him, favours in delaying laws and revealing classified information (e.g. the Triwizard Tournament). Fudge gave Lucius tickets to sit in the top box for the Quidditch World Cup final after his generous gift to St Mungo's. Fudge first met Narcissa Malfoy and Draco there in the top box, which suggests the Malfoys and Fudges did not meet socially prior to that. Despite receiving the Minister's favours, Lucius caused him great embarrassment by secretly leading the unconvicted Death Eaters and anti-Muggle supporters in a riot that night. Arthur weasley As Arthur was a lower-class person and having a poor family, Fudge always neglected Arthur while having a manipulated friendship with his wealthy rival, Lucius Malfoy, due to Fudge's swaying of money and power. As Arthur was considered an odd duck due to his fascination with Muggle culture, Fudge was able to use that as an excuse that Mr Weasley "did not fit" into the Ministry norm and that he was unfit for promotion to higher office. However, despite his disapproval and neglect of Arthur, Fudge did not oppose Arthur's Muggle Protection Act as he was also accepting towards Muggles, and once allowed Arthur and his family to sit at the Top Box during the Quiddich World Cup. When Lord Voldemort had returned, Fudge suspected Arthur being in league with Dumbledore since he was aware that the two of them were friendly. He even invited Arthur's son, Percy to become his Junior Assistant in an attempt to spy on the Weasley family and Dumbledore, which led to Percy defecting from his family after a row with Arthur. Fudge ignored Arthur and Harry's existences when he and the Wizengamot exited Courtroom Ten. After Fudge was disgraced and forced to resign, Arthur was instantly promoted by Fudge's successor. Prime minister of muggles Because of his position, Fudge was able to contact the Prime Minister of Muggles whenever the Wizarding world faced a crisis most likely affecting Muggles. In 1996, when Lord Voldemort returned and Fudge had been forced out as Minister for Magic, he went to alert the Muggle Minister concerning the return of Voldemort. He also visited when the Prime Minister was elected, when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. Percy Weasley Percy Weasley and his family were originally looked down on by Fudge, due to their lack of wealth and having more affiliation with Muggles. Barty Crouch sr. Fudge had a huge hatred for Barty Crouch Snr. This was because of Barty being one of his main competitors during the election for Minister of Magic in 1990, and Crouch's family history, as he was so jealous of how much Crouch was admired in the Ministry, and distrustful of Crouch's sanity and policies due to Crouch neglecting his son. Despite winning, the election left Fudge with such a strong dislike of Crouch that Fudge's first act as Minister of Magic was to have Barty reassigned to the Department of International Magical Cooperation, using Crouch's falling popularity due to being a neglectful father to his advantage. Fudge's dislike of Crouch was strong to the point where he refused to take Crouch seriously for when Crouch vanished after trying to warn Dumbledore about his son and Voldemort despite being in a delusional state, Fudge simply dismissed his warnings as the ramblings of a lunatic, and refused to believe the real reason he was gone until he was forced to acknowledge Voldemort's return the following year. This dislike also extended to Crouch's son, as he believed Crouch Jr was not a true Death Eater and that he only acted through insanity rather than his loyalty to Voldemort, classing him as a lunatic just like his father, and had no regret about Crouch Jr receiving the Dementors Kiss and therefore ending the Crouch family line, even though Crouch Jr could no longer testify Voldemort's return as a result. Despite his dislike of Crouch Snr, Fudge apparently required Crouch for translating foreign wizards and creatures who didn't understand English, as he struggled to communicate with the Bulgarian Minister of Magic (who was pretending to not understand English in order to prank Fudge) during the Quiddich World Cup while Crouch was absent. It is unknown what Crouch thought of Fudge, although given his serious and rule abiding nature, he likely disliked Fudge in turn for his bumbling and incompetent nature, and for reassigning him to the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which permanently ruined any further chances of Crouch becoming Minister of Magic despite his fall in popularity. Magical community When Fudge first ascended his ranks to the Minister for Magic, his bumbling nature failed to worry the citizens, as long as he was willing to take advice from more able people such as Albus Dumbledore. However, Fudge never forgot how much the community supported Dumbledore to become the Minister in the past. As his position was the leader of the entire government, he was nevertheless highly influenced and affected by the opinion of the people as a whole. When a few people would oppose his rule which threatened his administration, he would abuse his powers to discredit such people to maintain his hold on the likings of the rest of them, as well as threatening any employees with dismissal for not supporting his rule; ironically, Fudge only became popular because he took Dumbledore's advice to begin with. When Fudge awarded himself with the Order of Merlin, First Class medal, it caused controversies throughout the community, as it was common view that Fudge's career was "less than distinguished". Etymology * Cornelius is an old Roman clan's name, possibly related to the Latin word cornu (horn). Name of early Christian saints with a mediaeval cult in the Low Countries. * Oswald is of old Germanic origin, and means "godly rule" or "power of a god" (from Anglo-Saxon ós, which means "god" in a polytheistic context, and weald, "rule"). This is a reference of Fudge's political power amongst the British wizarding world is the highest, to the point of god-like. The name Oswald has had negative connotations since the 1930s due to British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley - and ally of Adolf Hitler's - as well as Lee Harvey Oswald - assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy - since the 1960s. Both can allude to Fudge's negative impact upon the wizarding world, the former due to his blood purity and social elitism, as exemplified by his favouritism of Lucius Malfoy, and the latter due to his attempt to assassinate Dumbledore's reputation. * Fudge (Verb) To alter something from its true state, as to hide a flaw or uncertainty. Always deliberate, but not necessarily dishonest or immoral. * (intransitive) To try to avoid giving a direct answer; to waffle or equivocate. * "Fudge," besides being a toffee-like confection (though softer, and crumbly rather than chewy), can mean "nonsense." This meaning originated from (probably 18th-century) sailors;22 it was derived from a merchant-Captain Fudge, who was renowned as a teller of tall tales. As a verb, it means to "evade" or to "falsify." In technological jargon, it means "to perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable way." Appearances * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance) * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (GBC version only) (Heard in PS1 version) * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (GBA version only) * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) (Voice heard in opening titles) (Seen in flashback on Disc 2) * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only) * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (Mentioned only) * Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mentioned only) * Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play) (Mentioned only) * Daily Prophet Newsletters * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 * Harry Potter for Kinect * The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Heard on speaker) * Pottermore (Mentioned only) * Harry Potter: The Character Vault * Harry Potter: The Creature Vault (Mentioned only) * Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)